Snubbed by Iowa Senate, Pulitzer Prize-winning editor to be honored by Irish Senate

Art Cullen, 59, editor of the twice-weekly Storm Lake Times, won a Pulitzer Prize on Monday for his editorial writing.
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From left: Tom, Art and John Cullen stand outside of The Storm Lake Times office in Storm Lake. Art Cullen won a Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing on Monday, April 10, 2017.(Photo11: Special to the Register)

If the Iowa Senate won't honor Pulitzer Prize-winning editor Art Cullen of Storm Lake, the Irish Senate will be proud to do it, says an Irish lawmaker.

Sen. Mark Daly, who is affiliated with the Irish Fianna Fáil party, told the Des Moines Register in a telephone interview from Ireland on Tuesday he will be working on drafting a resolution to recognize the Cullen family and it could be approved by the Irish Senate as early as Thursday.

"We take great pride in the achievements of the Cullen family," whose ancestors hail from Kilkenny, Ireland, said Daly, who is officially a spokesperson for Foreign Affairs, the Irish Overseas and Diaspora.

The 3,000-circulation Storm Lake Times is co-owned by Art Cullen and his older brother, John Cullen, who is the publisher. Art's son, Tom Cullen, is a reporter.

Daly called Art Cullen on Monday to express his interest in recognizing the Cullen family after learning that the Republican-led Iowa Senate had not acted on Senate Resolution 108.

The Iowa measure would have honored and congratulated the editor of the Storm Lake Times for his 2017 Pulitzer-winning work. The resolution was introduced Feb. 14 by Sens. Liz Mathis, D-Cedar Rapids, and David Johnson, I-Ocheyedan, but has remained stalled in a Senate committee ever since.

Cullen said Daly told him that Ireland is one nation, "and you are of our nation ... If your own state won’t recognize you, tell them that an entire nation stands with you."

The Pulitzer Board had praised Cullen last year for “editorials fueled by tenacious reporting, impressive expertise and engaging writing that successfully challenged powerful corporate agricultural interests in Iowa.” But Cullen's work also stirred controversy, offending local officials, farmers and advertisers — and lots of Republicans.

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Copies of the Storm Lake Times sit on a table in a coffee shop in Storm Lake.(Photo11: Kyle Munson/The Register)

State Sen. Mark Segebart, R-Vail, told the Register last week he gets along well with Cullen. But he added that the Storm Lake Times editor, "is not one of our favorite newspapermen."

Iowan's ties — and work — celebrated in the Irish Senate

In remarks on the Irish Senate floor Tuesday, Daly asked his colleagues to support a motion to recognize the Storm Lake Times. He noted that the Cullen family has ties to Ireland dating back five generations. He suggested that the Iowa Senate had refused to honor the Cullens because the newspaper had been critical of President Trump.

"I think that the most important thing in any democracy is a free press, and a free press should criticize politicians when they need to be criticized," Daly said. "They should point out where wrongdoing is done, and when they achieve greatly, as this small newspaper has done, winning the most prestigious prize in journalism, I think it would be fitting and appropriate that their own state senate would acknowledge them.

"But in light of the fact that they have not done so, I think it would be appropriate that the land of the ancestors of the Cullen family would acknowledge their great achievement in relation to winning the Pulitzer Prize, and I would ask the leader to support that motion," Daly added.

Speaking about @PulitzerPrizes winner Art Cullen of the @SLTimes whose family hail from Ireland. Delighted to tell the Senate, I will be bringing forward a motion to honour his prize winning work in journalism. A free press is one of the most important things in any society pic.twitter.com/vyytcrT4jY